Long Beach Unified officials decide not to close New City K-8 charter school

LONG BEACH - The future of New City K-8 charter school may be safe, for now.

In a move that drew applause from a room filled with concerned New City parents, Long Beach Unified School District officials on Monday recommended to the Board of Education that the district not move to revoke the school's charter. The 500-student New City K-8 on Long Beach Boulevard has been in danger of losing its charter due to concerns over its financial and academic stability.

In a public hearing Monday afternoon at 1515 Hughes Way, LBUSD Superintendent Chris Steinhauaser said the district still has serious concerns over the school's performance. LBUSD officials, however, are hopeful that the school district and New City can work together over the next several months to fix the deficiencies, he said.

"The school has made some difficult decisions, but communication (between New City leaders and district staff) has been excellent," said James Suarez, the district's assistant director of special projects.

Charter schools are publicly funded, independently run schools. They're overseen by school districts but are free from many of the education regulations binding traditional public schools.

Founded in 2000, New City at one time showed significant gains on the state's Academic Performance Index. The school's standardized test scores have plummeted in recent years, prompting the state to place New City, along with 13 other California charter schools, on a watch list.

New City's Academic Performance Index for 2011 was 612, marking it as the lowest performing elementary and K-8 school in the LBUSD.

School district officials have also expressed concerns over New City's financial stability. A school district report released in May noted that New City hadn't made its monthly $40,000 payments on a $5.4 million loan since December.

Last month, the school board unanimously approved a notice of intent to revoke New City's charter, a move met with backlash from hundreds of parents.

LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou said district staff had planned to recommend that the board move to revoke the school's charter in its regular meeting Tuesday.

School administrators, however, changed their minds after hearing new information on the school's financial plan, he said.

"Key to possibly tabling the revocation for now is the fact that New City has worked with its lender to modify its loan and reduce its monthly payments from about $40,000 to $25,000," Eftychiou wrote in an email. "We learned about this agreement on Thursday. This one-year, temporary modification of their loan allows essentially interest-only payments, helping to buy the school some more time."

LBUSD staff plans to recommend the creation of a memorandum of understanding between the school district and New City, outlining steps that the school must take to prove its financial and academic stability. The school board could still revoke the charter within 30 days of Monday's hearing if the district and school are not able to reach an agreement on a memorandum of understanding.

For now, the plan for a memorandum is expected to appear on the Sept. 4 school board meeting agenda.

While New City was able to reduce the monthly payments on its loan, LBUSD staff expressed concern over the school's long-term debt.

New City Executive Director Sabrina Bow said the school has established a financial plan that will secure the school's future at its current location and pull the school out of debt as early as December. The school has established new academic programs that are already beginning to show results, Bow said, adding that its unofficial preliminary state standardized test results for 2012 have showed a 40-point gain.

The 2012-2013 school year, she said, will mark the rebirth of New City.

The news comforted parents who were concerned that the school would shutter two weeks before the start of the new school year.

"It's definitely a major relief," said Arselia Martinez, whose two children attend New City. "We really had no 'Plan B.'"